In metropolitan areas throughout the the world there is tremendous need for space to park automobiles in order to help alleviate traffic congestion in large metropolitan areas. Previously, parking systems have been proposed which require that individual automobiles be lifted by an elevator and stored in a "pigeon hole" manner. Such systems do not meet the primary needs of a parking system which include easy and quick access to a car. Furthermore, such systems required an operator to be present and individually access vehicles for various customers. Such systems result in slow operation and lines of cars waiting to exit from and enter into a parking complex. Moreover, prior semi-automated parking systems as well as non-automated systems frequently require an operator to actually park and retrieve vehicles. Such systems create serious security problems, as well as fail to provide the speed of access required for parking complexes in large metropolitan areas.